The present disclosure relates generally to biometrics templates, and more specifically to methods, systems and computer program products for safeguarding biometric data.
Biometrics seeks to identify or recognize people based upon distinct characteristics attributable to the individual, such as finger prints, facial characteristics, and the like. Biometric data and authentication schemes that use biometrics have great potential in providing highly secure systems and, thus, the use of biometric security is on the rise. However, as with other forms of authentication data, biometric data is susceptible to a risk of increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks. Biometrics can be stored in a biometric template. When a database of templates is compromised, millions of users can be impacted. In the United States alone in 2015, an estimated $355 million of mobile charges were fraudulent charges. A total merchant cost of around $1 billion is estimated to be associated with these fraudulent transactions and is on the rise, growing at a 30% rate per year. The need for security of biometric data is heightened because once biometric data is compromised, it is forever compromised because the biometric data owner cannot change their distinct characteristics, such as fingerprints.